SD HORT BOOK CLUB: Next Book - June 2 , 2025, Elderflora By Jared Farmer On Zoom
- k-england
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! June 2025.
Have you heard how much fun the SD Hort Book Club is?
It's amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the head muckety-muck. I have learned so much since the book club started in January of 2021. The membership roll is over forty readers with a few lurkers who dip in and out as the books pique their interests and their schedules allow. There is, however, plenty of room for more, so if you've been thinking that a horticulturally curated book club was just thing to do on the first Monday evening of every month (except December) at 4:30p/5 pm on Zoom then, please, by all means, join us! Just send me, Karen England, an email c/o info@sdhort.org with "Book Club" in the subject line and I will add you to the roster. It's free, and guests and members are welcome.
Next Book - June 2, 2025, Elderflora by Jared Farmer
The June book to read is Elderflora by Jared Farmer. Discussion is on June 2 at 4:30p/5p on Zoom.
The epic story of the planet’s oldest trees and the making of the modern world Humans have always revered long-lived trees. But as historian Jared Farmer reveals in Elderflora, our veneration took a modern turn in the eighteenth century, when naturalists embarked on a quest to locate and precisely date the oldest living things on earth. The new science of tree time prompted travelers to visit ancient specimens and conservationists to protect sacred groves. Exploitation accompanied sanctification, as old-growth forests succumbed to imperial expansion and the Industrial Revolution. Taking us from Lebanon to New Zealand to California, Farmer surveys the complex history of the world’s oldest trees, including voices of Indigenous peoples, religious figures, and contemporary scientists who study elderflora in crisis. In a changing climate, a long future is still possible, Farmer shows, but only if we give care to young things that might grow old.
LOOKING AHEAD:
June 2, 2025, Elderflora by Jared Farmer
July 7, 2025, The Earth Shall Blossom by Galen Beale and Mary Rose Boswell
Please consider joining the SD Hort Book Club and read some great horticulturally imbued books along with us. Some titles are old, some new, some historical, some biographical, some fictional, some educational and all enjoyable.
To join the SDHBC, just send an email to Karen at info@sdhort.org with "Book Club" in the subject line to receive the Zoom link to the meetings.
We meet on Zoom, the first Monday of most months at 4:30p for social and 5p for discussion.
Note: The Zoom SDHBC meeting link is not published, instead it is emailed to discussion participants. If you would like to receive the link, please email info@sdhort.org with “book club” in the subject line.
SD HORT BOOK CLUB'S Previously Read List:
January 2021 - The Language of Flowers by V. Diffenbaugh. 👍
February 2021 - The Food Explorer by D. Stone. 👍👍
March 2021 - Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson. 👍
April 2021 - A Memory of Violets by H. Gaynor. 👍
May 2021 - Founding Gardeners by A. Wulf. 👍👍
June 2021 - Elizabeth and Her German Garden by E. von Arnim. 👍
July 2021 - In Praise of Tomatoes by S. Shepherd. 👍👍
August 2021 - Undaunted Courage by S. Ambrose. 👍👍
September 2021 - Around the World in 80 Plants/Trees both books by J. Drori. 👍👍
October 2021 - American Eden by V. Johnson. 👍
November/December 2021 – Finding The Mother Tree by S. Simard. 👍👍
January 2022 – Braiding Sweetgrass by R. Kimmerer. 👍👍
February/March 2022 - The Seed Keeper by D. Wilson. 👍
April 2022 - In Search of Lost Roses by T. Christopher. 👍👍
May 2022 - Turn Here Sweet Corn by A. Diffley. 👍👍
June/July 2022 - The Arbornaut by M. Lowman. 👍👍
August 2022 – Orwell’s Roses by R. Solnit. 👍
September 2022 - The Nature of Oaks by D. Tallamy. 👍👍
October 2022 - Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by T. Ecott. 👍
November 2022 - The Complete Writings of Kate Sessions in California Garden – New Edition - San Diego Floral Association. U👍👍
December 2022 - The Multifarious Mr. Banks: From Botany Bay to Kew, The Natural Historian Who Shaped the World by T. Musgrave. 👍
January 2023 – the Botanist’s Daughter by K. Nunn. 👍.5
February 2023 – Eating to Extinction by D. Saladino. 👍👍
March 2023 - The Natures of John and William Bartram by T. Slaughter. U👎
June 2023 - The Plant Hunter by C. Quave. U👍👍
July 2023 - The Overstory by R. Powers. 👍.3125...
August 2023 - Tulipomania by M. Dash. 👍.21428...
September 2023 - Garden Spells by S. Addison Allen. 👍
October 2023 - Agave Spirits by G. P. Nabhan Ph.D., & D. S. Piñera. 👍.5
November 2023 - The Oak Papers by J. Canton. U👍👍
December 2023 - The Last Garden in England by J. Kelly. 👍.21428...
February 2024 - Brave the Wild River by M. L. Sevigny. U👍👍
March 2024 – Birnam Wood by E. Catton. Half a thumb up. (No emoji for this. You'll have to just imagine...)
April 2024 - The Signature of All Things by E. Gilbert. 👍.3125...
May 2024 - The Comfort of Crows by M. Renkl. 👍.21428...
36. June 2024 - A Gentle Plea for Chaos by M. Osler. 👍.5
37. July 2024 - How to Read a Tree by T. Gooley. 👍.625
38. August 2024 - The Seed Detective by A. Alexander. 👍.5
September 2024 - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by E. Bailey U👍👍
October 2024 - What We Sow by J. Jewell 👍.625
November 2024 - The Garden Against Time by O. Laing 👍.1
January 2025 - Life in the Garden by P. Lively 👍.33
February 2025 - The Tree Collectors by A. Stewart U👍👍
March 2025 - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by A. Dillard 👍.1
April 2025 - The Core of an Onion by M. Kurlansky 👍.1
May 2025 - Nature's Best Hope by D. Tallamy U👍👍
Our Ratings System Explained -
👍👍 Two thumbs up = excellent
👍 One thumb up = good
Half a thumb up = better than okay
✔️ No thumbs up or down = okay
👎 One thumb down = bad
👎👎 Two thumbs down = awful
U The letter U = unanimous vote
